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October 8, 2020
Thursday!
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Top News
Advanced Micro Devices is reportedly in advanced talks to buy rival chip maker Xilinx in a deal that could be valued at more than $30 billion and mark the latest big tie-up in the rapidly consolidating semiconductor industry. The WSJ has more here.
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Amid the Boom in SPACs, Few Women Investors
If you’ve been following the SPAC boom, you may have noticed something about these blank-check vehicles that are springing up left and right in order to take public privately held companies. They are being organized mostly by men.
It’s not surprising, given the relative dearth of women in senior financial positions in banking and the venture industry. But it also begs the question of whether women, already hustling to overcome a wealth gap, could be left behind if the trend gains momentum.
Consider that studies have shown women investors are are twice as likely to invest in startups with at least one female founder, and more than three times as likely to invest in startups with female CEOs. It’s not a huge leap to imagine that women-led SPACs might also be more inclined to identify women-led companies with which to merge and take public.
SPAC sponsors can reap handsome rewards, too. In return for lining up investors, then persuading a target company to accept the terms it offers them, sponsors typically receive 25% of the SPACs founder shares, which can mean a lot of money in a short amount of time, given that SPACs typically aim to merge with a company in two years or less. In fact, even if the SPAC performs terribly — say the company with which it merges is later accused of fraud — those sponsors get paid.
Eventbrite cofounder Kevin Hartz, who is overseeing a $200 million SPAC, explained it to us in August this way: “On a $200 million SPAC, there’s a $50 million ‘promote’ that is earned.” But “if that company doesn’t perform and, say, drops in half over a year or 18-month period, then the shares are still worth $25 million. (Hartz himself called this guaranteed payout “egregious,” though he and his partner in the SPAC, Troy Steckenrider, didn’t structure their SPAC differently, saying that as a first-time SPAC sponsor, they wanted to keep things straightforward.)
Women aren’t entirely unaccounted for in the current SPAC craze.
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Massive Fundings
Avail Medsystems, a two-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based medical technology company that develops software intended to digitize physical presence in operating rooms, has raised $100 million in Series B funding. D1 Capital Partners led the round, joined by 8VC. the company has now raised $125 million altogether, says Crunchbase News. More here.
GoPuff, a seven-year-old, Philadelphia-based startup that delivers the stuff you’d buy at a convenience store in 30 minutes or less, has raised $380 million in new funding at a post-money valuation of $3.9 billion. Accel and D1 Capital Partners led the new round, joined by Luxor Capital and Softbank Vision Fund. (Accel and Softbank had also invested in earlier rounds.) The company has now raised $1.35 billion altogether TechCrunch has more here.
Instacart, the eight-year-old, San Francisco-based on-demand grocery delivery company, has raised $200 million more in new funding led by D1 Capital and Valiant Peregrine Fund at a $17.7 billion post-money valuation. It's one of a series of fundings for the company this year. In July, it raised $100 million; in June, it raised $225 million. In June, it was also valued at $13.7 billion, notably. TechCrunch has more here.
MessageBird, a nine-year-old, Amsterdam-headquartered cloud communications company, has raised $200 million in Series C funding led by Spark Capital at a post-money valuation of $3 billion. Other investors in the round include Bonnier, Glynn Capital, LGT Lightstone, Longbow, Mousse Partners and New View Capital. Earlier investors Accel, Atomico, and Y Combinator also participated. TechCrunch has more here.
Neocis, an eight-year-old, Miami, F.-based developer of dental surgery robots, has raised $72 million from DFJ Growth, Vivo Capital, and earlier investors Mithril Capital Management, Norwest Venture Partners, Section 32, and Fred Moll. The company has now raised $120 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Redaptive, an eight-year-old, San Francisco-based energy efficiency-as-a-service startup focused on helping their customers reduce their carbon footprint, has raised $157 million in funding led by CarVal Investors, with participation from earlier backers CBRE, Engie New Ventures, Evergy Ventures, and Linse Capital. Bloomberg has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Bloom Credit, a four-year-old, New York-based API platform company that helps businesses integrate with credit bureaus, has raised $13 million in Series A funding. Allegis NL led the second tranche of the round, which also included participation from Resolute Ventures, Slow Ventures, and Commerce Ventures. The financing also included a previously unannounced $3 million from angel investors. FinLedger has more here.
Datavant, a nearly four-year-old, San Francisco-based health data management company that was launched out of the holding company Roivant Sciences (it plucked the longtime CEO of LiveRamp to lead it), has raised $40 million in Series B funding. Transformation Capital led the round, joined by Johnson & Johnson, Cigna Ventures, Flex Capital and Roviant. More here.
Grid AI, a 19-month-old, New York-based startup that aims to help machine learning engineers work more efficiently, has raised $18.6 million in Series A funding led by Index Ventures, with participation from Bain Capital Ventures and Firstminute Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Illusive Networks, a six-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based company whose cybersecurity software detects cyber attackers who penetrate a network while delivering logs to threat intelligence teams, has raised $24 million in Series B1 funding from Spring Lake Equity Partners, Marker, NEA, Bessemer Venture Partners, Innovation Endeavors, Cisco, Microsoft, and Citi. VentureBeat has more here.
mmhmm, a months-old, Bay Area-based virtual presentation startup founded by serial entrepreneur and investor Phil Libin, has raised $31 million in funding before its general launch. The funding includes $21 million in Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital, an additional $5 million raised for Libin’s startup studio All Turtles and $5 million in debt from Silicon Valley Bank. Forbes has more here.
Observe, as San Mateo, Calif.-based maker of observability tools, has raised $35 million in Series A equity and debt funding led by Sutter Hill Ventures, with participation from tech executives Michael Dell, Frank Slootman and Scott Dietzen. SiliconAngle has more here.
Winningtemp, a six-year-old, Gothenburg, Sweden-based employee engagement platform, has raised €15.1 million in Series B funding co-led by Bonnier Ventures and Frog Capital. UKTN has more here.
Smaller Fundings
Headroom, a months-old, San Francisco-based video conferencing startup that also provides transcripts, summaries with highlights, gesture recognition, optimized video quality, and more, has raised $5 million in seed funding. Gradient Ventures led the round. TechCrunch has more here.
Lingokids, a seven-year-od, Madrid, Spain-based ed-tech startup featuring a project-based learning curriculum for kids ages 2 to 8, has raised $10 million in Series B funding from puzzle and game producer, Ravensburger. EdSurge has more here.
Phenomic AI, a four-year-old, Toronto-based phenotype discovery startup, has raised $6 million in seed funding led by CTI Life Sciences Fund, with participation from AV8 Ventures, Luminous Ventures, Viva BioInnovator, Garage Capital, Hike Ventures, and Cantos Ventures. More here.
Solvo, an eight-month-old, Tel Aviv-based startup that promises to automatically generate cloud security permissions by analyzing a developer’s code, has raised $3 million in seed funding from TLV Partners and Surround Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
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New Funds
The German energy company E.ON, which counts over 50 million commercial, residential and industrial customers, has created a new €250 million ($265 million) investment fund called Future Energy Ventures to invest in “asset-light” tech startups. TechCrunch has more here.
Graph Ventures, a 13-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based early-stage venture firm, is raising $30 million for its sixth fund, shows an SEC filing. More here.
Pontifax AgTech, a six-year-old, Santa Monica-based growth capital investor in the global food and agriculture sector, has closed its second fund with $302 million in capital commitments, roughly triple the size of the firm's $105 million debut fund. More here.
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IPOs
Affirm, a startup focused on providing point-of-sale credit to consumers making online purchases, says it has filed to go public. That Affirm, run by serial founder Max Levchin, was exploring a public offering was first reported by the WSJ in July. TechCrunch has more here.
Three former Walt Disney Co. execs are teaming up with basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal and one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s sons to make acquisitions in the media and technology industries through a SPAC called Forest Road Acquisition Corp. An SEC filing shows the group plans to raise $250 million for a potential deal in the realm of “audience aggregation platforms” such as streaming platforms. Among the other execs is Kevin Mayer, who left Disney in May to become the CEO of TikTok before quitting more recently. The WSJ has more here.
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Exits
Morgan Stanley is buying fund manager Eaton Vance for $7 billion, just days after completing its takeover of discount broker E*Trade Financial. It's part of a continuing shift away from trading toward steadier, simpler businesses like money management, says the WSJ. More here.
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People
Princeton University is naming a residential college for alumna and co-chief executive officer of Ariel Investments Mellody Hobson, recognizing her donation for a project to be built at a site that once honored Woodrow Wilson. Hobson College becomes the first residential college named for a Black woman. Hobson was the first member of her family to graduate from college, she said in the statement. More here.
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Data
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says 60 employees, or about 5% of its staff, have taken the exit package the company offered for those not comfortable with its apolitical mission, and that a "handful of conversations are ongoing." More here.
The pandemic lockdown has been good for app developers. According to a new report from App Annie, consumers in the third quarter downloaded 33 billion new apps globally and spent a record $28 billion in apps — up 20% year-over-year. They also spent more than 180 billion collective hours each month of July, August and September 2020 using apps, an increase of 25% year-over-year. TechCrunch has more here.
The number of apartments for rent in Manhattan tripled last month, with nearly 16,000 apartments sitting empty, according to data from Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel. The vacancy rate in Manhattan, which is typically 2% to 3%, is now just under 6%. The median net effective rents — those that include concessions — fell by 11% to $3,036. CNBC has more here.
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Essential Reads
Venture funding for female founders has hit its lowest quarterly total in three years, according to Pitchbook data. Likely related to investors relying more heavily on existing networks during the pandemic, firm invested a total of $434 million in Q3—the lowest figure since the second quarter of 2017. The third quarter total also amounts to a 48% drop in funding from Q2, when female founders received $841 million across 132 deals. More here.
The digital payments company Square says it has purchased 4,709 bitcoins at an aggregate purchase price of $50 million and that the investment represents approximately 1% of Square's total assets at the end of the second quarter of 2020. Square sees potential for bitcoin to become "a more ubiquitous currency" in the future. More here.
Amazon has received delivery of its very first, custom-built EV delivery van – a vehicle built through its partnership with electric transportation startup Rivian. You can check it out here.
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Detours
A reporter's worst nightmare is realized.
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